The train driver in the courtyard

"My name is Duan Ping, and I'm the cook in the commune. Don't let my prestigious position fool you; I'm in charge of the commune leaders' meals and drinks, but the expenses are quite high."

"I ran into Master Liu Ping'an from the locomotive depot when I went to Kaiyuan on business the other day."

We knew each other before liberation. Back then, he drove a train for the old train company on the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. He often passed through our village and loved to sing folk songs. We became familiar with each other over time.

During our meeting, Master Liu mentioned he wanted me to help him buy some chili peppers from Langtuo Village. He said the peppers there are authentically spicy, and several state-run restaurants in Kaiyuan had asked around and were willing to pay a high price for them.

"I thought to myself, this is a great way to make money!"

"So I contacted Lao Kan, a relative of Lang Tuo Zhai. He was a prominent figure in the village and could gather supplies and distribute them."

I send some in-demand goods like batteries and soap over there, and they bring chili peppers over there. I can make a profit by going back and forth.

I genuinely didn't know this counted as smuggling! And it wasn't anything like Dieter! Boss, I'm innocent!

Duan Ping sat there, trying his best to defend himself, struggling to do so.

He pleaded with the old cat, and then began to sob softly.

Li Aiguo slapped the table and questioned Duan Ping carefully four or five more times. Each time the questions were different and the order was shuffled, but Duan Ping's answers were all similar and there were no major differences.

Old Cat is an old hand, and his ability to read people is superb.

Duan Ping's panic was genuine, his fear was genuine, and his eyes darted around when he answered questions, but he didn't deliberately avoid the key issues. Clearly, he hadn't received professional counter-interrogation training, and he didn't seem to be lying.

The atmosphere in the interrogation room suddenly became strange.

The group originally thought that by capturing Duan Ping, they could follow the clues to find Dieter, but they didn't expect that the kid was just a smuggler dealing in in-demand goods.

Could it be that the real Dieter is someone else?

Was it Liu Ping'an, or his apprentice, the stoker?
The clues had come full circle, and the members of the task force looked somewhat discouraged.

Li Aiguo held a cigarette butt between his fingers, remained silent for a long time, then suddenly stubbed it out hard in the tin ashtray, and stared at Duan Ping: "Duan Ping, putting aside your smuggling of goods for now, have you also smuggled people?!"

The interrogation room fell silent the moment those words were spoken.

Duan Ping, who was pleading desperately, choked up and visibly shrank back.

This is a manifestation of guilty conscience.

Old Cat suddenly slapped his forehead. That's right, Duan Ping might not have known, but that doesn't mean he wasn't involved.

"Duan Ping, this is your last chance. Confess honestly!"

Old Cat's eyes lit up: "That's right! Duan Ping may not know, but he might still be being used as a pawn!"

He leaned forward, his tone sharpening: "Duan Ping, this is your last chance. Confess! Who exactly did you help transport?!"

The searchlight shone directly on Duan Ping's face, and sweat streamed down his forehead.

His expression changed several times, and finally he let out a long sigh and slumped into his chair: "I told you this would cause trouble! But Lao Kan wouldn't listen. He said that the man just wanted to go home to visit his family, and we were just doing a good deed. But... but it really turned out to be a big problem!"

"Old Kan is the leader of Langtuo Mountain Village. He is in charge of the village's trade and is also my smuggling partner. He is responsible for collecting chili peppers and distributing the scarce goods I send over there."

"When we were handing over goods the other day, he came to me and said a friend of his wanted to escape from Langzhai and wanted me to help him find a safe route."

"Who are you? Where are you going?" Old Cat pressed.

"I don't know either," Duan Ping said with a wry smile, leaning back in his chair.

Zhou Ke couldn't hold back any longer, pulled out his pistol and slammed it on the table: "Duan Ping, even now you still won't confess!"

Duan Ping looked at the pistol and continued, "I really don't know. How should I put it? Now that I think about it, I think I was tricked."

A while ago, when we were handing over goods, Lao Kan told me that he had a friend whose family was from Northeast China. Years ago, they were stranded in Langtu, and now his elderly mother was seriously ill, so he wanted to go back to visit his family.

But my friend didn't have a proper pass, so he had to sneak in.

There are many patrolling comrades on the frontier, and militiamen on the roads of various communes. If I came in, I would definitely be arrested, so I was asked to find a safe route.

What could I possibly do? I was originally planning to refuse, but then I ran into Liu Ping'an in Kaiyuan. He needed some chili peppers.

I knew Liu Ping'an was in charge of transporting special supplies. Those trains were generally unchecked, making them the best way to avoid border checks and local militia. That's why I thought of arranging for Lao Kan's friend to be on the train.

At this point, Duan Ping quickly defended himself: "I just told Lao Kan the train route and departure time, and told him to arrange for someone to board the train himself. I've never seen that person, nor did I participate in the pick-up. I really don't know anything about it!"

Li Aiguo said in a deep voice, "Have you ever considered that Lao Kan's friend might be Dieter?"

Duan Ping opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His body went limp in the chair. He had never had this thought before, but after Li Aiguo reminded him, the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.

Although Lao Mao was basically certain that Duan Ping hadn't lied, he still arranged for the interrogators to continue following up, using Li Aiguo's cross-examination method to repeatedly verify the details.

Subsequently, he led Li Aiguo, Zhou Ke, and veteran comrades from the meteorological station to the temporary office of the locomotive depot to hold a case analysis meeting.

Old Cat lit a cigarette, and smoke slowly billowed from his nostrils: "Everyone, please share your thoughts. This case has taken a big turn now."

"The current situation is that an unidentified person has infiltrated from abroad, looks just like us, and may even speak Chinese."

Zhou Ke frowned, his tone full of discouragement, "We don't even know his gender, age, or physical characteristics. Finding someone in such a large area is harder than finding a needle in a haystack."

Although the checks are strict in various places, as long as he changes into our clothes and forges an identity document, he can be completely blended into the crowd and cannot be distinguished at all.

Old Cat looked at Li Aiguo, who had been silent all along, and frowned: "Aiguo, what do you think?"

This was indeed the most complex case Li Aiguo had ever encountered.

From the uncoupling of the wagon to Liu Ping'an's suspicious behavior, then to Duan Ping's involvement in smuggling, and finally the emergence of a mysterious intruder, the clues are intertwined like a tangled mess, seemingly full of breakthroughs, yet impossible to pinpoint.

To figure out where the mysterious man went, we should first find out his true purpose.

This is a common method used in investigating cases, and Lao Mao agreed with Li Aiguo's opinion.

Li Aiguo made a bold conjecture: "We may have fallen into a misconception at the beginning, always thinking that the decoupling of the wagons was deliberately sabotaged by Dieter, who was after the equipment at the mushroom base."

"Isn't that right?" Zhou Ke was stunned.

Li Aiguo said, "Is it possible that this was just an accident?"
The mysterious man's purpose in infiltrating the mushroom base may not have been to do so; he simply wanted to smuggle himself in using Liu Ping'an's special train.

While climbing onto the train, the air brake system of the carriage was accidentally damaged, which caused the carriage to detach and be lost.

After all, his core objective was 'infiltration,' and the last thing he wanted was to attract attention; why would he deliberately sabotage the train?

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ke was speechless.

These words were like a thunderclap out of nowhere, shattering Old Cat's long-held beliefs.

He suddenly stood up, staring at the lines on the map, carefully recalling the details of the entire case.

Liu Ping'an himself didn't know that the train car contained key components for the mushroom base, so how could Dieter have pinpointed it so precisely?
If they were really after the equipment, why not just blow up the train cars instead of letting them slide off the tracks?

Li Aiguo's speculation precisely explains these self-contradictory doubts.

Although it may sound unbelievable, once all the impossibilities are eliminated, whatever remains, however bizarre, must be the truth.

As the leader of the five-person team, Lao Mao has encountered many bizarre cases over the years and knows that some seemingly ingenious cases are actually just a series of coincidences.

The more meticulous the plan, the higher the probability of failure if it lacks sufficient redundancy.

The plans with the highest success rate are often the simplest.

Saddam Hussein's power grab plan a while ago was exactly like that. He took control of the president through a birthday banquet and then sent his confidants to arrest all the other party's leaders.

All schemes and tricks are futile in the face of such an unreasonable attack.

"So what do you think this mysterious person's purpose is?" Old Cat suppressed his shock and pressed for an answer.

Li Aiguo narrowed his eyes: "There's too much information missing right now, so it's hard to say. But I'm certain that if they want to continue their journey to the mainland, there's a high chance they'll take the train."

Upon hearing this, the old cat's expression changed instantly.

These days, long-distance passenger transport is scarce, and most inter-provincial travel relies on railways.

Trains are the most convenient mode of transportation available to ordinary people.

Although a letter of introduction is required to buy a ticket, the ticket seller only needs to verify the information and will not ask too many questions.

The checks at checkpoints along the way are mostly targeted at suspicious luggage, and are often just routine for passengers with complete documents.

However, fleeing on foot was impossible. The militia and commune members along the border were extremely vigilant. If a stranger appeared, they would be immediately questioned for their identity, making escape impossible.

"He most likely left by train!" Old Cat made a quick decision, grabbed the hand-cranked telephone on the table, and started shaking it vigorously.

The call connected quickly, and Old Cat immediately said, "Connect me to the Beijing headquarters, looking for Comrade Farmer!"

(End of this chapter)